Mayor Bloomberg in Brooklyn today, where he spoke at a Christian Cultural Center and broke his silence about ex-deputy Stephen Goldsmith's arrest. Photo: G.N. MIller/NY Post

A defiant Mayor Bloomberg said “I make no apologies” for not telling the public about the arrest of former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, breaking his silence after ducking reporters and critics for days after The Post broke the story.

“I make no apologies for either the fact that Mr. Goldsmith has left city government or for treating the Goldsmith’s family with basic decency,” the mayor said about the domestic dispute that landed Goldsmith in the slammer in D.C. on July 30.

When asked today by The Post if Goldsmith would have been fired for his performance had he not been arrested, Bloomberg astonishingly said, “no.”

Bloomberg added that someone close to Goldsmith called the administration on July 31, told them of the arrest and said Goldsmith would offer his resignation. Goldsmith called Bloomberg personally on Aug. 1 to offer it formally, and it was accepted.

The remarks came during a question and answer session after he spoke at a Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn.

The mum mayor has been dodging and media and critics for days, ever since The Post revealed that Goldsmith had been jailed for two days on a charge of assaulting his wife.

The charges against Goldsmith, which were dismissed, were a City Hall secret — the mayor’s office said he left his post on Aug. 4 so he could pursue “private-sector opportunities.”

Goldsmith’s wife, Margaret, told cops he smashed a phone and grabbed her as she desperately tried to call cops, a Washington, DC, police report reveals.

The shocking report describes in dramatic detail how a “verbal altercation” between the former Indianapolis mayor, 64, and his wife in their ritzy house turned ugly at around 11:30 p.m. July 30.

“I should have put a bullet through you years ago!” Margaret, 59, allegedly told Goldsmith, the report revealed.

Stephen Goldsmith then “shoved [Margaret into] the kitchen counter,” according to the report.

“You’re not going to do this to me again, I’m calling the police,” Margaret responded, the report said.

Goldsmith “then grabbed the phone from her hands and threw it onto the ground, breaking the phone. He then grabbed [Margaret] and refused to let her go.”

“She kept screaming, ‘Let me go, let me go,’ ” as Stephen refused to let her out of his grasp, according to the report.

“She dug her nails into [Stephen’s] forearms,” causing him to release Margaret, who then “ran to the other room to call police.”